This invention is related to container transport, and more particularly to machinery and methods for stacking, moving, and palletizing containers, such as totes or cuboid boxes.
In some modern fulfillment centers, products are placed into open-top containers referred to as totes for containment as the products are moved. FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 illustrate conventional totes that hold items for movement within a fulfillment center.
Often, totes or like containers are placed on a pallet for transport to other areas within a fulfillment center or another facility. The conventional method for loading totes or like containers onto a pallet is to place them in a horizontal array, one at a time. In some cases, a horizontal row of containers is picked and placed—one row at a time. Then, when an entire horizontal layer is complete on the pallet, another container or another horizontal row of containers is stacked one at a time on top of the existing container row. In some applications, especially when boxes of differing footprints are being palletized, a box may be placed on top of another box on the pallet if needed before completing a horizontal row or array.